I watch soap opera’s. I admit it. It is mind numbing and I only do it after work. It is as my high school drama teacher said the only place where characters still have soliloquy, with a brandy glass in hand, in a log cabin.

Soap opera marriages are fleeting and they never eat on the show which explains the figures of the actresses. They also seem to be unable to use long words or work out what is at the back of the cave. People also swim all times of the year.

I am able to have highbrow leanings and watch daytime television though I can’t tell you what happened on the show last week. What kind of bad guy would make you forget the mess of your life by creating a whole set of new problems? Why Jacob Young, of course who acts as person with no morals and is just the right amount of mean. Without this he would be too squeaky clean.

He also looks just like a Malmesbury farm manager who was the one who got away. This guy got me to adopt a kitten, and got me to drive with him even though he was colour blind. Robots people! That guy was sweet and that is perhaps why despite my better judgement I turn to the soapy side of life.

I am in Cape Town, a beautiful city. However I like all the people who read ‘Eat, Pray. Love ” by Elizabeth Gilbert or “Under the Tuscan Sun” by Frances Mayes Ihave a sun dappled view of Italy. My mother has been to Venice, Rome and Florence. I am drink up every detail and treasure the venetian Murano jewelery and postcards from a sinking city. Italy is now a country where being thin and blonde is considered sexy and nuns have cellphones. However there is romance in a country where you are as likely to dig up a piece of Roman history as a tin bathtub. I love the creamy warm colours and a sense of God as part of the national vocabulary. My ancestors were Provence wine farmers and Hugenots and Irish Murphy’s as well as Scottish McClusky’s. I am at heart a romantic though life seems to have driven me to a world weary cynicism. Nowhere is more romantic than Italy. I enjoyed art history and the vast collection in the Vatican seems almost incredible. If you walk straight through without stopping it would take you three days. Everything from Mesopotamia, Versailles and gold everything. I will save my money. I found in and amoung my South African coins a real British penny. I am sure it’s my lucky penny and my luck is about to change.

I remember the first Bon Jovi song I heard it was ” I believe ” off the Keep the Faith album it was 1993. In 1995 Bon Jovi played 4 shows in South Africa, playing 2 shows in Johannesburg and one each in Durban and Cape Town. They had a solid fan base and since the democratic election they were one of the first group of international artists to play in S.A.

Jon Bon Jovi’s drummer in his band in 1980 was from Johannesburg, that was the band’s last personal connection to South Africa. The band agreed to come after the positive feedback from Whitney Houston also from New Jersey who had played successful shows, as Jon said in a pre-show interview with 5fm in 1995. The shows were a huge success with a 2 and a half hour set list and the Cape Town show which I attended in Green Point stadium was heard right across Table Bay and is fondly remembered to this day. Bon Jovi went on safari and Jon and his wife Dorothea had a polite cup of tea with Nelson Mandela.

Jon later in 1996 said in Metal Edge stated that South Africa reminded him of Southern California, which looking at the geographical similarities is not an insult at all.

Drummer Tico Torres came back twice once to support then wife Eva Hertzigova on a Chloe fashion show and first on honeymoon.

Perhaps this and the financial implications of taking the whole crew and equipment to South Africa has meant that they have not been back during later tours.

Bon Jovi may not have physically been back but Africa is still on their mind. The cover of Neil Young’s “Rocking in the Free World” recorded live by Bon Jovi in Johannesburg in 1995 was included in the live album One Wild Night. The Masi Mara was included in the “Everyday” music video in 2002. In 2009 Desmond Tutu and Mandela were included in the global feel of the video “We weren’t born to follow.”

Jon Bon Jovi has recently funded the building of homes through his charity Philadelphia Soul Foundation in South Africa.

Well, there is a little country village called Philadelphia an hour’s drive outside Cape Town.

Hello faithful reader. Today I did something really stupid, even for me.I heard on the radio of an easy way to defrost the fridge by putting it in the garden and hosing it down. What they DID NOT say is that if you do not push the fridge far enough out of the sliding door you will cause a flood of biblical proportions!

It is not easier as it took me 45min to mop, sweep and dry up the mess. The cat wisely waited until the worst was over. He then proceeded to inspect the ice and peas and carrots on the lawn.

The reason I buy Italian biscuits and French fridge magnets is that I am a frustrated traveler with no budget.
One day I will see the glass pyramid at the Louvre and start a indecent affair with a Lavazza coffee and biscotti in Italy.
Iam still figuring out how to become an internet millionare. I’ll keep you posted.
xxx